The Family Leave Insurance Act would guarantee workers 12 weeks of paid leave for the birth of a child, for adoption of a child, to care for a family member with a serious health condition and in cases of serious health concerns of the individual employee.

Funded by small contributions from employees–and possibly also from employers–it would be one of the proposed expansions of the Family Medical Leave Act. That law allows women and men to take three months of unpaid leave after the birth of a child or a family member’s serious illness if they work for a company with 50 or more employees.

Failed Attempts

During the last few years, similar bills to expand the Family Medical Leave Act–proposed by U.S. Representatives Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., Pete Stark, D-Calif., and Lynn Woolsey, D-Calif.–have foundered. Stark plans to lead the way again in 2012, but passage looks doubtful in the current Congress.

That’s a good reason to change our representation in November. We need to vigorously push for leaders with real family values.

My home state of California is one of only two states with a paid family leave law. This law has demonstrated "either a positive effect or no noticeable effect" on productivity, income, employee retention and morale, according to a 2011 study by researchers Eileen Appelbaum and Ruth Milkman.

The vast majority of businesses interviewed said the program had not resulted in any cost increases.

New Jersey is the other state that has enacted a law to create insurance programs for employees funded by employee payroll tax contributions. It enables workers to take up to six weeks of partially paid leave.

These laws ensure that workers taking family leave can receive some wage replacement.

Last year, the report "Failing Its Families: Lack of Paid Leave and Work Family Supports in the U.S.," released by the Women’s Rights Division of Human Rights Watch, highlighted how the lack of paid family leave, along with inflexible workplaces, can increase American sickness and poverty and exacerbate discrimination against women.

Perils of Unpaid Leave

Authors interviewed 64 parents and filled the report with testimonies about the perils of taking unpaid leave: debt or bankruptcy; illness; post-partum depression; termination, demotion or reduced pay upon returning to work.

One of the most significant findings was the relationship of childbirth to poverty. Authors cited Amy Rynell’s finding that 8.6 percent of households enter into poverty when a child is born, a figure rising to 24.6 percent when a woman heads the household.

Authors showed how cost-effective paid-leave programs are in other countries and how lagging the United States appears internationally.

Data from the U.S. Department of Labor, meanwhile, indicate that only 11 percent of American workers have paid family leave available to them. In some cases, parents can use paid sick leave or vacation time for parental leave.

But only 67 percent of U.S. workers have paid sick days, 40 percent have temporary disability and more than a quarter lack paid vacation days. Access to these benefits varies widely.

A 2010 nationwide survey of registered voters found that 76 percent of respondents favored laws on paid family leave.

These are tenuous times for working women and their families. By some reckonings, the middle class disappeared in 2011. Lawmakers need to do more.

Susan Rose is a former executive director of the Los Angeles City Commission on the Status of Women and is retired from the Santa Barbara Country Board of Supervisors. Currently, she serves as vice chair of the Santa Barbara Human Rights Watch Committee.

Susan Rose served for eight years on the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors and is the former executive director of the Los Angeles City Commission on the Status of Women. She is a co-founder of the Women and Leadership Program at Antioch University Santa Barbara. She writes from California about women's rights, work and family issues and governance.

Some started handling “doorbuster” events yesterday, on Thanksgiving. Others are getting up at dawn today. The second of two stories on retail workers’ scheduling stress.

Janet

I really, really, really believe in paid leaves for women. It reaps rewards for children, women, and workplaces! Women should not have to give up their jobs and advancement and babies should not have to give up their mothers in the first year of their lives. This is so important to everyone’s wellbeing.
I sent another comment about this expanding on this view, and it has not been ublished here, I hope I did not offend as I did not intend to do so.

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